Stellan Skarsgård is the star who will receive this year’s Honorary Heart of Sarajevo at the 31st edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival, organizers unveiled on Friday.
He will get to honor “in recognition of his exceptional contributions to the film industry and his remarkable acting career.”
Said the star: “The Sarajevo Film Festival remains unwavering and driven in its aim to highlight subjects of great consequence, underscored by an intense lust for life. I love going there.”
Skarsgård, “a longtime friend of the Sarajevo Film Festival, as well as a curator and one of the patrons of the Katrin Cartlidge Foundation – whose scholarships were awarded at the Sarajevo Film Festival – presented the foundation’s scholarship to Juanita Wilson at the festival’s 15th edition in 2009,” organizers highlighted.
Said Jovan Marjanovic, director of the Sarajevo Film Festival: “It is a true honor to present the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo to Stellan Skarsgård, an actor of remarkable depth, strength, and integrity. Stellan has been a longtime friend of Sarajevo, and we are delighted to welcome him back. His career is filled with unforgettable roles in films that challenge, move, and stay with audiences. This award is a heartfelt thank you for his outstanding contribution to cinema and for the continued support he has shown to our festival.”
Italian auteur Paolo Sorrentino was previously unveiled as this year’s filmmaker receiving the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award during the 31st edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival, which will also feature a retrospective of his movies screened as part of the fest’s “tribute to” program.
The Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award was established in 2005 with the aim of recognizing “individuals for their outstanding contribution to the affirmation and development of the film industry and the support and development of the Sarajevo Film Festival.”
Past recipients of the honor include Meg Ryan (2024), Lynne Ramsay (2023), Jesse Eisenberg (2022), Ruben Östlund (2022), Wim Wenders (2021), Michel Franco (2020), Mads Mikkelsen (2020), Tim Roth (2019), Isabelle Huppert (2019), Alejandro González Iñárritu (2019), Paweł Pawlikowski (2019), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (2018), Oliver Stone (2017), John Cleese (2017), Stephen Frears (2016), Robert De Niro (Lifetime Achievement Award, 2016), Benicio Del Toro (2015), Danis Tanović (2014), Gael García Bernal (2014), Jafar Panahi (2011), Angelina Jolie (2011), Steve Buscemi (2007), Mike Leigh (2006), and Marco Müller (2005).
This year’s Sarajevo fest runs Aug. 15-22.